Natural immunoglobulins have been known for many years, as have the various fragments thereof, such as the Fab, (Fab').sub.2 and Fc fragments, which can be derived by enzymatic cleavage. Natural immunoglobulins comprise a generally Y-shaped molecule having an antigen-binding site towards the end of each upper arm. The remainder of the structure, and particularly the stem of the Y, mediates the effector functions associated with immunoglobulins.
Natural immunoglobulins have been used in assay, diagnosis and, to a more limited extent, therapy. However, such uses, especially in therapy, were hindered until recently by the polyclonal nature of natural immunoglobulins. A significant step towards the realisation of the potential of immunoglobulins as therapeutic agents was the discovery of procedures for the production of monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) of defined specificity (1).
However, most MAbs are produced by hybridomas which are fusions of rodent spleen cells with rodent myeloma cells. They are therefore essentially rodent proteins. There are very few reports of the production of human MAbs.
Since most available MAbs are of rodent origin, they are naturally antigenic in humans and thus can give rise to an undesirable immune response termed the HAMA (Human Anti-Mouse Antibody) response. Therefore, the use of rodent MAbs as therapeutic agents in humans is inherently limited by the fact that the human subject will mount an immunological response to the MAb and will either remove it entirely or at least reduce its effectiveness. In practice, MAbs of rodent origin may not be used in patients for more than one or a few treatments as a HAMA response soon develops rendering the MAb ineffective as well as giving rise to undesirable reactions. For instance, OKT3 a mouse IgG2a/k MAb which recognises an antigen in the T-cell receptor-CD3 complex has been approved for use in many countries throughout the world as an immunosuppressant in the treatment of acute allograft rejection Chatenoud et al (2) and Jeffers et al (3)!. However, in view of the rodent nature of this and other such MAbs, a significant HAMA response which may include a major anti-idiotype component, may build up on use. Clearly, it would be highly desirable to diminish or abolish this undesirable HAMA response and thus enlarge the areas of use of these very useful antibodies.
Proposals have therefore been made to render non-human MAbs less antigenic in humans. Such techniques can be generically termed "humanisation" techniques. These techniques typically involve the use of recombinant DNA technology to manipulate DNA sequences encoding the polypeptide chains of the antibody molecule.
Early methods for humanising MAbs involved production of chimeric antibodies in which an antigen binding site comprising the complete variable domains of one antibody is linked to constant domains derived from another antibody. Methods for carrying out such chimerisation procedures are described in EP0120694 (Celltech Limited), EP0125023 (Genentech Inc. and City of Hope), EP-A-0 171496 (Res. Dev. Corp. Japan), EP-A-0 173 494 (Stanford University), and WO 86/01533 (Celltech Limited). This latter Celltech application (WO 86/01533) discloses a process for preparing an antibody molecule having the variable domains from a mouse MAb and the constant domains from a human immunoglobulin. Such humanised chimeric antibodies, however, still contain a significant proportion of non-human amino acid sequence, i.e. the complete non-human variable domains, and thus may still elicit some HAMA response, particularly if administered over a prolonged period Begent et al (ref. 4)!.
In an alternative approach, described in EP-A-0239400 (Winter), the complementarity determining regions (CDRs) of a mouse MAb have been grafted onto the framework regions of the variable domains of a human immunoglobulin by site directed mutagenesis using long oligonucleotides. The present invention relates to humanised antibody molecules prepared according to this alternative approach, i.e. CDR-grafted humanised antibody molecules. Such CDR-grafted humanised antibodies are much less likely to give rise to a HAMA response than humanised chimeric antibodies in view of the much lower proportion of non-human amino acid sequence which they contain. The earliest work on humanising MAbs by CDR-grafting was carried out on MAbs recognising synthetic antigens, such as the NP or NIP antigens. However, examples in which a mouse MAb recognising lysozyme and a rat MAb recognising an antigen on human T-cells were humanised by CDR-grafting have been described by Verhoeyen et al (5) and Riechmann et al (6) respectively. The preparation of CDR-grafted antibody to the antigen on human T cells is also described in WO 89/07452 (Medical Research Council).
In Riechmann et al/Medical Research Council it was found that transfer of the CDR regions alone as defined by Kabat refs. (7) and (8)! was not sufficient to provide satisfactory antigen binding activity in the CDR-grafted product. Riechmann et al found that it was necessary to convert a serine residue at position 27 of the human sequence to the corresponding rat phenylalanine residue to obtain a CDR-grafted product having improved antigen binding activity. This residue at position 27 of the heavy chain is within the structural loop adjacent to CDR1. A further construct which additionally contained a human serine to rat tyrosine change at position 30 of the heavy chain did not have a significantly altered binding activity over the humanised antibody with the serine to phenylalanine change at position 27 alone. These results indicate that changes to residues of the human sequence outside the CDR regions, in particular in the structural loop adjacent to CDR1, may be necessary to obtain effective antigen binding activity for CDR-grafted antibodies which recognise more complete antigens. Even so the binding affinity of the best CDR-grafted antibodies obtained was still significantly less than the original MAb.
Very recently Queen et al (9) have described the preparation of a humanised antibody that binds to the interleukin 2 receptor, by combining the CDRs of a murine MAb (anti-Tac) with human immunoglobulin framework and constant regions. The human framework regions were chosen to maximise homology with the anti-Tac MAb sequence. In addition computer modelling was used to identify framework amino acid residues which were likely to interact with the CDRs or antigen, and mouse amino acids were used at these positions in the humanised antibody.
In WO 90/07861 Queen et al propose four criteria for designing humanised immunoglobulins. The first criterion is to use as the human acceptor the framework from a particular human immunoglobulin that is unusually homologous to the non-human donor immunoglobulin to be humanised, or to use a consensus framework from many human antibodies. The second criterion is to use the donor amino acid rather than the acceptor if the human acceptor residue is unusual and the donor residue is typical for human sequences at a specific residue of the framework. The third criterion is to use the donor framework amino acid residue rather than the acceptor at positions immediately adjacent to the CDRs. The fourth criterion is to use the donor amino acid residue at framework positions at which the amino acid is predicted to have a side chain atom within about 3 A of the CDRs in a three-dimensional immunoglobulin model and to be capable of interacting with the antigen or with the CDRs of the humanised immunoglobulin. It is proposed that criteria two, three or four may be applied in addition or alternatively to criterion one, and may be applied singly or in any combination.
WO 90/07861 describes in detail the preparation of a single CDR-grafted humanised antibody, a humanised antibody having specificity for the p55 Tac protein of the IL-2 receptor. The combination of all four criteria, as above, were employed in designing this humanised antibody, the variable region frameworks of the human antibody Eu (7) being used as acceptor. In the resultant humanised antibody the donor CDRs were as defined by Kabat et al (7 and 8) and in addition the mouse donor residues were used in place of the human acceptor residues, at positions 27, 30, 48, 66, 67, 89, 91, 94, 103, 104, 105 and 107 in the heavy chain SEQ ID NO:31 and at positions 48, 60 and 63 in the light chain, of the variable region frameworks. The humanised anti-Tac antibody obtained is reported to have an affinity for p55 of 3.times.10.sup.9 M.sup.-1, about one-third of that of the murine MAb.
We have further investigated the preparation of CDR-grafted humanised antibody molecules and have identified a hierarchy of positions within the framework of the variable regions (i.e. outside both the Kabat CDRs and structural loops of the variable regions) at which the amino acid identities of the residues are important for obtaining CDR-grafted products with satisfactory binding affinity. This has enabled us to establish a protocol for obtaining satisfactory CDR-grafted products which may be applied very widely irrespective of the level of homology between the donor immunoglobulin and acceptor framework. The set of residues which we have identified as being of critical importance does not: coincide with the residues identified by Queen et al (9).